Green Trasport week 2011 | Reduce Danger on the Roads

As a road gets busier, it gets more unpleasant and more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, so they avoid using it. And some of them choose to drive instead – making the problem still worse.

The best way to make roads safer is to have fewer vehicles and to slow them right down. Traffic calming can create a safer and more pleasant neighbourhood. Cars are slowed in 20 mph zones by road narrowing (combined with pavement widening), chicanes or pinch points. It’s best done over a wide area to avoid rat-running in non traffic calmed streets.

On major roads, simple features like traffic islands or pedestrian crossings make life easier for those on foot.

Take Action!

• What’s the local council doing to make roads safer? Is it what you think they should be doing?
• Draw up a list of the danger spots in your area – the places where something needs to be done. Talk to local groups – pensioners’ clubs, parent and toddler groups, youth clubs, civic societies, women’s groups – to get as wide a view as possible.
• Send the list to the local papers – with a press release – and ask them to send a photographer to the worst danger spots.
• Ask local councillors and traffic engineers to a meeting to discuss your findings.